There is a vast and growing industry dedicated to gathering, organizing, and presenting media content to consumers (viewers and/or users) of information such as news, entertainment, sports, emergency alerts, advertisements, and other subject matter. This industry is supplying information to consumers at an ever-increasing rate. This overabundance of information will soon surpass the standard methods consumers use to sift through the information to access the information that is desired. For example, serially switching channels on a television from one channel number to the next highest (or lowest) channel number is inefficient, frustrating, and time-consuming. The problem becomes exacerbated as the number of available television channels increases. The typical television viewer normally is not interested in viewing any but a small fraction of the available channels and the need to “surf” through a huge number of channels to reach a desired channel makes the viewing experience less than optimal. Even jumping to a particular channel (e.g., by entering the channel number into a remote control device) becomes problematic since the viewer must remember the channel number, manage the rearrangement of channels which may change from time-to-time as distributors rearrange their channel assignments to accommodate new programming and/or remove old programming, and associate desired content with completely different channel numbers if the viewer travels to a different geographic location. This problem is in no way limited to television viewing as is evident by the increase in the number of terrestrial radio stations as well as the advent of satellite radio “stations” with their large number of channels dedicated to particular musical, informational, or “talk radio” content. Similarly, for example, media content presented to consumers via the internet is continually expanding and the consumer is presented with comparable problems. A further example is a music-playing device, such as a personal portable music player for which the consumer can add/delete content at will. There are also other means of communication for which the need to manage the flow of information is becoming necessary.
Furthermore, current systems for interfacing with a content presentation system (e.g., a television, a radio, an internet-connected device, a music playing device, a portable entertainment device, a personal digital assistant, a cellular phone/information system, and combinations thereof) may not have the means to identify the user nor present content for which the identified user is most likely seeking access. Those systems that do require that the user actively input information into the system. Additionally, current interfacing systems do not share their information with other interfacing systems but rather are slaved to a particular content presentation system.
The present disclosure overcomes the above-mentioned limitations in existing systems by disclosing, among other things, systems and/or methods to identify a user interacting with a content presentation system, adaptively learn, in a passive manner, a user's pattern of accessing content over time, and globally store the user's identifying and use information.
According to one embodiment, the present disclosure relates to a novel method for creating a smart channel tuner list, including determining an identity of a user interacting with a content presentation system, collecting channel switching information from the first channel to each of a plurality of second channels from the user's interaction with the content presentation system, determining a value for each of the plural second channels as a function of the channel switching information, and creating a smart channel tuner list as a function of the determined value.
According to another embodiment, the present disclosure relates to a novel system for creating a smart channel tuner list, including circuitry for determining an identity of a user interacting with a content presentation system, circuitry for collecting channel switching information from the first channel to each of a plurality of second channels from the user's interaction with the content presentation system, circuitry for determining a value for each of the plural second channels as a function of the channel switching information, and circuitry for creating a smart channel tuner list as a function of the determined value.
According to yet another embodiment, the present disclosure relates to a novel method for switching from a first channel provided by a content provider to a second channel provided by the content provider, including determining an identity of a user interacting with a content presentation system, collecting channel switching information from the first channel to each of a plurality of second channels from the user's interaction with the content presentation system, determining a value for each of the plural second channels as a function of the channel switching information, and switching from the first channel to one of the second channels as a function of the determined value.
According to still another embodiment, the present disclosure relates to a novel system for switching from a first channel provided by a content provider to a second channel provided by the content provider, including circuitry for determining an identity of a user interacting with a content presentation system, circuitry for collecting channel switching information from the first channel to each of a plurality of second channels from the user's interaction with the content presentation system, circuitry for determining a value for each of the plural second channels as a function of the channel switching information, and circuitry for switching from the first channel to one of the second channels as a function of the determined value.
These and many other advantages of the present disclosure will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the disclosure pertains from a perusal of the claims, the appended drawings, and the following detailed description.